Arcadia to combat 'maternity tourism' homes with full-time detective

ARCADIA -- City officials are cracking down on "maternity tourism" boarding homes with the City Council taking the unusual step of dedicating a full-time police detective to investigate the issue citywide.

The recent council decision comes after Arcadia created a multi-agency Boarding House Task Force last October that has already shut down at least five establishments for violations, mainly for unlawfully operating boarding house businesses in residential zones. Jason Kruckeberg, the city's development services director, said officials are now investigating various allegations at 15 other homes, including condo and apartment buildings.

Maternity or birth tourism is a phenomenon in which women, often from China, pay a handsome fee to have their babies in the U.S. so the children can be citizens. They're given a temporary place to stay that is typically run as a boarding house. While the practice of entering the country as a tourist and having a child here is not illegal - there are no federal or state laws governing the practice - it leaves local jurisdictions, such as Arcadia, to find ways to regulate these operations.

"Our hope with this detective is that he will become our subject-matter expert over time," Arcadia police Capt. Larry Goodman said, "be working with our partners at the county, state and federal level in an effort to determine exactly how extensive these types of homes are in Arcadia and what can be done to at least monitor them, regulate them and make sure they're in compliance with city, state and federal laws. "

After the Boarding House Task Force, which includes various city staff and public safety officials, began to look into the issue late last year, it eventually became clear that more could be done to protect residents' quality of life, officials said.

"There are a lot of issues here, not just zoning and land use but issues related to the (state) Franchise Tax Board, some tax evasion allegations," Kruckeberg said. "We're looking at cooperating with the county Public Health Department as well. The council felt that was best served at a detective level rather than through the code enforcement process. "

Maternity tourism businesses have been discovered throughout Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties in recent years.

In 2011, officials from the city of San Gabriel discovered and shut down an illegally converted townhouse catering to Asian maternity tourists. Last December, Chino Hills officials sought a temporary restraining order against the owner of a hilltop mansion for running such a business there. They later entered into an agreement with him to bring the home up to city codes and that home is now for sale for $3.3 million.

Los Angeles County supervisors, in a motion introduced by Supervisor Don Knabe, agreed earlier this year to form a task force to examine ways to better regulate such businesses and the San Bernardino County supervisors are also exploring the issue.

Arcadia Councilman John Wuo said that residents concerned about the heavy traffic and dirty diaper disposal in their neighborhoods say their "quiet life" has been disturbed.

"We need to take some sort of action on it to get the situation under control," Wuo said. "I think that's the reason we need to have somebody on this project full-time. "

Hotels are more difficult to regulate since it's not illegal for hotel operators to rent rooms to pregnant women, but city officials argue there are still public health issues that should be regulated there. Santa Anita Inn, an extended-stay hotel near Santa Anita Park, is known to house maternity tourists. It has not been cited for any violations.

A seasoned Arcadia police detective has been selected to fill the new post. Another police officer will be hired at a cost of about $120,000 a year to offset his move, officials said.

Scott Hettrick, Arcadia Chamber of Commerce executive director, said he wasn't sure what financial effects curbing maternity tourism would have on the city. Such tourists, according to a recent NBC Rock Center report, tend to be big spenders while staying in the U.S.

But there are also those who question the morality of the practice.

"The City Council is pretty clear they are opposed to the practice and will work any violations they find, especially in the residential areas," Hettrick said. "If they are operating in an area that's not zoned for any kind of commercial, they can get them on zoning violations or get them on not having proper business permits. They are looking for whatever ways they can to keep them out of the city. "